Le Petit Robert

This was my first experience with dining in Russian Hill. WOW there are a lot of dogs in this neighborhood! My favorite part of the meal (brunch) was sitting outside and watching all the doggies go by.
I went with their cobb salad for brunch, Hubster the macaroni n’ cheese and our companions the french toast and an omelet. The food was very good, nothing exceptional but I’d certainly go here again. I definitely appreciated the big tasty pieces of bacon in my salad. Another table had a burger and fries and that looked *really* good.
Service left a little to be desired and the tables were a tad too small. When all of our food came out, we feared there wouldn’t be enough room for it all!

OMG THE BEST FRENCH TOAST!!! took french toast to a whole notha level!!! don’t care for french toast… but i swear you just gotta try this one!!!
came here for brunch after working out with the girls. since it was one of those gloomy cold grey days, we sat inside. nice, cozy, casual, french country feel… airy with the high ceilings & great natural light streaming through even on a grey day. nice outdoor seating on a sunny warm day, great for people watching & dog watching… we shared 3 plates: YUMMEE FRENCH TOAST & 2 non-​memorable (for me, but the girls loved it) egg dishes…
ITS ALL ABOUT THE FRENCH TOAST!!!

Le Petit Robert C’est le nom d’un dictionnaire Et le nom de probablement le plus mauvais restaurant français à San Francisco.
Bien que le propriétaire soit un boulanger fantastique, il devrait laisser la cuisine aux professionnels. Son chef ici livre des plats trop savoreux (trop salé, trop de vinaigre, trop de moutarde, etc.) et trop chers. Pour le même prix qu’un filet mignon tendre ailleurs, vous pouvez ici commander une bavette dure et caoutchouteuse ou du confit de canard détrempé.
Caoutchouteux? Détrempé? Ce sont pas les saveurs que je recherché en dinant À moins que je sorte avec mes pires ennemis.
C’est dommage, parce que c’est un endroit très charmant et mignon.

What a great location. They even have some out door tables for the nice weather. And look at all the other restaurants in a few blocks in either direction. They are all packed, this being one of San Franciscos genuine food ghettos.
But Petite Robert is not packed. At best it is only half full. They have tried putting white table cloths on the tables, and that didn’t work. They tried painting the walls a different color, and that didn’t work. They tried firing all the staff and hiring new ones, and that didn’t work either. The one thing they havn’t really tried is changing the food. The owner, who occasionaly spends time cooking in his own kitchen, seems determined to do it his way.
I eat here sometimes, because I know when everyone else is packed out, and, as usuall I havn’t made reservations anywhere, that there will always be a table at Petite Robert. The wine list by the glass is really bad, although there are a few bottles on their list that are OK.
The parking in this neighborhood is some of the hardest to find in the City.
8÷9÷08 Not surprised to see Petite Robert is now closed

I have had to downgrade my review from 4 stars to a meager 2 based on yesterday’s experience.
I have been coming here for years and have always had a good experience. Yesterday may have been my last time.
We were seated promptly, which was nice.
Then our waiter came to the table immediately and since two of our party had just gone to the restroom, he decided to come back a full 20 minutes later to take our drink order! He thought maybe they would take that long washing their hands… he just disappeared.
He was SO inattentive. He never checked on us, we had to grab another server to get another beer. He then put our order in wrong.
Finally after having waited about 45 minutes for burgers that were charred to a crisp and bitter from being burnt, we ate our food, without ever being asked if we wanted refills on water, or more beer, or if things were ok… they weren’t.
Oh did I mention the FRUIT FLY INFESTATION at our table?
while waiting forever for our food, we made a game of trying to catch the hundreds of fruit flies buzzing around the table.
Happy Father’s day dad, I hope you like flies with your dinner.
To top it off, the coffee was stale, obviously the last of an old batch.
Sad that an old favorite has gone so down hill.

After passing numerous fine restaurants (Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese, Moroccan) on Polk Street, my dad insisted on eating here. His perception of international cuisine falls into two categories: French or Italian.
And he ordered the burger. He said it was undercooked and cold on the inside, but ate it anyway, with gusto.
I had the chicken cobb salad, and upon its arrival, I thought they forgot the lettuce. Nope, it was just very sparse and completely buried.
Aside from the giant bacon cubes in my salad and the fries that came with my dad’s burger, we were less than thrilled. Boo!

One would think that a french restaurant could pull off a Nicoise Salade. Oh, contraire!!!
Not only was the salad terrible. It was inedible. The fish smelled like long john silver’s ass. It was disgusting; they must have caught the tuna about 5 months prior. My incredulous lunchmate was even going to try a nibble. But, quickly tossed the fish from his fork because of the putrid stench. I brought this to the attention of the feckless waitress. She took my plate away and that was it. No replacement food; no compensation; no apologies. Just a bill, an empty stomach, and a foul taste in my mouth. The horror, the horror.
Le service est chi; la nourriture est chie; l’endroit est chi!!!
(the service is shit; the food is shit; the place is shit)
Never try this over priced crap factory.

I turned 36 last week. It means the women with any interest in dating me will either have A. a lot of baggage or B. a lot of cats. It means I’ve been contemplating the relative merits of owning a fanny pack. It means I should probably retire my asianboy72 email account.
But it also means I get to go out and have a nice meal with a few friends on my birthday. Le Petit Robert on the Russian Hill side of Polk was our chosen destination. Now, I know a thing or two about French cuisine. My mom was a professional French chef for over 25 years. I grew up eating pâté, escargot, cassoulet, bouillabaisse, steak frites, etc… the French dining staples.
Le Petit Robert is well, only ok. There is an element of authenticity missing in the dishes. Maybe it’s because of the location. The other diners were a collection of well heeled yuppies and bluehairs. You might be thinking, but John T, you’re a yuppie fastly approaching your golden years too! That might be the case, so maybe I ought to cut Let Petit Robert a little slack.
Robert, you don’t suck. I’ll probably stop by the next time I’m in the neighborhood. I hear Russian Hill has a new nice selection of fanny pack stores.
3 stars.

Our waitress donned a pioneer-​style dress, and reminded me slightly of one of the FLDS polygamist sect members. She was exceptionally soft spoken and oftentimes would simply say: «Many Happy Returns.»
I found this archaic saying to be charmingly odd. And I became smitten with her over our delicious appetizers, which included the (french) fries, mussels and escargot. The broths in the latter went perfectly with the bread. When she came by to check on us we told her how delicious everything was. «Oh, I am so pleased… many happy returns.»
I wanted to make sweet clothed-​love to her after she brought out my entrée. She recommended the butternut squash ravioli with goat cheese and spinach… and it was divine. I told her that I loved it. «Oh joyous days… many happy returns, sir.»
We were celebrating the twins’ birthday and a good friend joined us at the last minute. Our good friend had one cocktail too many before dinner and while telling a story he announced that someone should «Suck My Dick.» Yikes! At the very least he could have made this announcement in french: «sucez mon penis» (I think). I wanted to say something like «Please excuse my friends’ french… but thought that would sound dumb in a french restaurant. We bit our tongues and laughed it off. Naturally it did not go over too well with the grey-​haired biddy to my left. She voiced her disdain: «Excuse me, but that is completely inappropriate.»
And she was right. So we left… but not before being reminded to have many happy returns.
We’ll definately be back… I’m not so sure about the grey-​haired woman though. In looking back, however — she looked like someone who was in need of a stiff one. But then again… aren’t we all?
Sigh!

I ventured here for a Sunday Funday with my friend.
We definitely had fun! It was a lovely sunny day and we sat outside and enjoyed about 3 bottles of champagne.
I had so much fun that I wanted to give it 5 stars but truthfully the service was extremely slow and lacking. She served our bottle of champagne in the above mentioned sun without an ice bucket? We had to walk inside to ask for one.
I had an omelet that was just fine & and my friend had french toast that she said was more like flan. She didn’t really seem to care for it.
The three stars are for having a great location, cute outdoor seating, and for serving champagne. The food is nothing too special and the service needs serious improvement.
On a funnier note, my sincere apologies for any of the joggers jogging down Polk on April 20^th. After a few drinks we thought it would be a good idea to yell out numbers, your score based on your jogging skills & attire. Thanks for all the eye candy!

Brunch Time! French Toast actually tastes better then Mother’s??? I had no idea there is more to french toast then just a sugary soaked bread slice… BUT THIS, this was a moist tower of sweetness at Le Petit Robert. This sweet spot is not for an everyday occurrence. The «create your own» Omelets are tasty as well. I’ve tried many of the brunch items, which have all been a plus.
Their Lattes are ok. I’d rather grab a cup next door though. When I asked for a to go cup and they didnt have one, I had to go next door anyway. So I wasnt that disappointed.

This place has the worst service I’ve ever experienced. We had lunch here last week and our server never came to our table to take our order. After waiting approx 15 minutes, i hijacked the server from the next table and gave her our order… about 20 minutes later, a woman resembling Kathy Bates in Misery, brought our food to the table and walked away. I flagged her down and asked her for a side of aoli (for my cold fries) and she sneered at me when i mispronounced the word aoli (i have a slight stutter) and then repeated it back to me like a child… «A-​O-​L-​I»
She never bothered to introduce herself and after i gave her my credit card, she returned it to my female friend and told her to «have a nice day»… wtf???
As for the food, as i said, the fries were cold but my steak was okay. My friend had the lentil soup, which she had to send back because it was too salty… she said it tasted like it was made with sea water!
BTW– we were there at 5pm on a Sunday night. The place was dead, so this woman has no excuse for her ill-​manored behavior. She spent most of here time in the back as she only had two other tables to serve.

The beau and I meet up for lunch on a weekday in Russian Hill. As we stood on Polk street and looked out at the lane of restaurants, Le Petit Robert seemed like an attractive spot. Outdoor seating. Nicely kept. Name in a different language. Let’s eat here!
Nice space that’s big enough to accomodate without have to squeeeeeeeeze by the table next to yours. Birdcages are also a nice touch although it takes awhile to notice them perched so high up on the bar. Tap water comes in a bottle – I really like that in restaurants. Makes even free water seem so important.
The menu didn’t feel as important in comparison. The items were disappointing & uncreative. Hamburgers? Mac & Cheese? French Fries? Wait… are we in a French restaurant? Maybe I’m just so uncultured, and French cuisine is now the same thing as something previously known as «McDonald’s American.» It doesn’t come cheap either, just so you know.
For my entrée, I end up getting the Tuna Nicose salad. The beau got the gnocchi (partially because I want to taste it without actually committing to it). Thanks dear. You’re a sweetheart. The salad was okay. Pretty colorful, which I like. It came surrounded with a thing of sauce that had the look and texture of mayonnaise. Not a big fan of that, but I may be biased here because I don’t usually eat leafy green salad with a dressing of mayonnaise.
The gnocchi was average at best. Looked house-​made, but tasted so mushy that I’d much rather have the store-​bought stuff. The beau didn’t seem too excited about his meal. He also ordered a side of french fries with aioli sauce. We left of it on the plate. That should say something – although one could argue that it was our fault for ordering it in the first place. Who orders french fries at a French restaurant? We were just so confused!
Don’t think I’ll be coming back during lunch hour. Seems like their brunch is pretty hot stuff from other people’s reviews, but after a pretty boring lunch (not to mention unfulfilling), I will have to pass on that for now.

Had dinner here and it was okay. It wasn’t bad or it didn’t «WOW» me either. It was a nice place to have dinner. We ordered the Tuna Tartar there and I think that was the best thing we ordered — presentation was great as it had thinly sliced advocado on top of the tuna tartar which tasted YUMMY!
The food and the dessert was okay.

Huh. Didn’t know about all of the bad experiences people have had at Small Bob.
Had a perfectly lovely late lunch here on this fine fall afternoon. Sunlight was streaming in through the big windows as we lingered over our bottle of Vigonier while munching on perfectly cooked pommes frites with aoili. The tartare was delicious, the bread was delightful, and our salads were very very good (the nicoise with seared tuna takes the cake).
While I understand that they take some liberties on authentic French recipes, I don’t mind them since the results are very good. Service was kind and attentive, even though we walked in 5 minutes before the end of the brunch service.
I had dinner here years ago, and today’s lunch was so good that I will be back before long. It would be an easy place to come to alone with a book and feel like a mysterious yet intriguing stranger among the folk on Polk.

Writing this review makes me angry but I feel it as my duty to inform my fellow Unilocalers. This place sucks. Period! I went in with two of my girlfriends for a fun lunch afternoon. The restaurant has a cute décor but that’s about it. The food sucks and after the waitress messed up my order, she blames it on me and said «I thought we discussed this.» And I respond with a «Discuss what? I ordered a cobb salad.» My friend had the baked macaroni, which was stale and oily and gave her a horrible stomach ache. I had to wait another 20 minutes to get my cobb salad, which was tasteless and puny. To top off our horrible meal, the waitress overcharged us and didn’t even have the nerve to apologize! Wow, I was in shock.
I called the manager later that afternoon to complain about our horrible dining experience and our rude waitress. He told me he would «look into it» asked us to come by for a complimentary lunch/​dinner. Are you kidding me? No amount of food or money is enough to have me step foot in that establishment!

Ah, Bob — you don’t mind if I call you Bob do you? — so you’re small. I mean, so what? What’s the big deal? Like the old saying goes pal, it’s not the size of the boat, it’s whether you have a well-​stocked bar shaped like one (see: Hue L’amour). Oh… you fall a little «short» in that department too, huh? Well listen buddy, you seem like a real «nice guy,» and you can cook. The ladies love that. I’m sure girls are lining up around the block to be your… friend.
I don’t know about lining up around the block, but the ladies (and guys) are keeping this place pretty packed, and for good reason. The Arnold Palmer (lemonade and ice tea) was good enough that it barely made me miss hard alcohol with my breakfast. The «French Burger» with Gruyère cheese was good, but a little difficult to eat (crumbly, and served on a single slice of bread). French onion soup was pretty standard, but also good.
I asked for some of the homemade pickles that come with the «American Burger» and was a little disappointed when I found that they were sweet. Hey Frenchy, us Americans like our pickles sour! And by «us Americans,» I mean me.
Also, how dare they run out of French toast at 2:00 PM?. People are trying to have breakfast here!

After being turned away at Yabbies, my dining companion and I saw Le Petit Robert and, remembering the many positive endorsements I’d heard and read about this neighborhood bistro on Upper Polk, thought we’d give it a try.
The friendly hostess encouraged us to take any table we liked — even a four-​top though we were only two. We chose a cozy table near the window. Our server arrived soon after to tell us the specials. All told we ordered the cream of mushroom soup (the soup du jour), the salad lardon, the roasted chicken, the cauliflower gratin, the shredded brussels sprouts with hazelnuts and the macaroni and cheese. A number of good wines are served here by the glass — we chose a Grenache and a Cabernet Franc.
Every dish was delicious and served piping hot. If you enjoy comforting, homey French bistro food, this one’s a good choice! Our server checked in now and again but mostly left us to enjoy ourselves and our food.
The restaurant is warmly lit (read: romantic) and is the perfect place for a relaxing dinner.

I ate here with 3 friends last night and had a great time. Firstly, the atmosphere was very relaxed and while yes, perhaps the décor is not classically french, it was nice. Besides I“m sick of french country, so contrived. Blah!
All of our meals were excellent and I had a bite of every one. I had the twice cooked lamb which was delicious. Medium rare for the chops, medium for the cuts.
Our waiter was very nice and had his timing spot on. He was more attentive in the beginning when decisions had to be made, but left us be when we were eating and talking and just generally having a good time.
Our wine was excellent.
Also, our desserts were quite good. My favorite flavor of ice cream or gelato is pistachio and theirs was excellent. I will say that my friend did not like his lemon sorbet. (He described it as pinesol fresh, but I think he was just being grumpy).

UPDATE: Post Chef Robert leaving, 1 star. The burger just wasn’t the same and the service was a joke, literally, we couldn’t stop laughing.
All previous reviews below, 5 stars.
Steak Tartare, some kind of mushroom appetizer, Stella, Chocolate Mousse, and some Port made for a great, varied meal at the bar. The staff is excellent as well. Great place for a date or a quick lunch…
Update: I’ve had a lot of good mac and cheese in my day (living in the south, there were lots of meat and threes). However, I just had the best mac n cheese in my life. Three kinds of cheeses, bacon and another italian meat with a crispy top. I think my heart stopped for a second, but it was well worth it. Also had the Salad with a Poached egg and MORE bacon which was very tasty. I could actually eat that for breakfast every day…
UPDATE: French style opened face hamburger is GREAT. So are the duck pâté and cured salmon appetizers…

Update 8÷26÷07:
Came back recently for a group brunch and just realized how the quality has suffered. Well, we didn’t get the french toast this time around but ordered two different items, bf had the croque monsieur and I had the chicken hash. Even my friend who had the same hash commented that it was too dry. It wasn’t that tasty. Bf’s croque monsieur was dry as well and very overpriced. For half the price, we can get really good croque next door at La Boulange. It was awfully quiet on a Sun morning considering other places like Gourmet Burger, Crêpe House and La Boulange were bustling with people and a huge line! Go figure!
Older review:
Had great brunch at this place. Apple French toast with apple slices and delicious sandwiches as well. Sit by the side walk on a sunny day and soak in the sun!